Open Wounds
by PizzaSteve3902
Summary: "And you can't stop me from falling apart, because my self-destruction is all your fault! How could you hate me, when all I wanted to be was you? How could you love me, when all you ever gave me were open wounds?" Zane Weather was the son of Dian Weather and Nick Wilde, but he has never met his father. Companion Story to my other stories. Lyrics by Skillet.


**Author's Note:**

 **Another companion story! This one will cover the life of Zane and what he went through personally during Zootopia, The Rough Life of Nick Wilde, and The Life of Nicole Wilde. The main inspiration for this are the songs Open Wounds and Would It Matter by Skillet. The song lyrics used in this story are owned by Skillet. This is the longest one-shot I've written to date. Enjoy!**

On a cool fall day in Zootopia, one young vixen is having a really bad day. Her previous boyfriend dumped her, and now she was at the hospital, giving birth. The vixen's name is Dian Weather, and she was the girlfriend of Nick Wilde.

Later that week, Dian was at her small apartment with her newborn son, Zane.

"What am I going to do with you?" Dian asked Zane.

Zane just cooed and sucked on his paw.

"You are kind of cute, I guess."

Dian picked Zane up and held him in her arms like, well, a mother would her son.

"I will punish Nick for doing this to me!" Dian said through her clenched jaw. "And you will help me," Dian said, relaxed now.

As Zane grew, he grew fond of his mother, but he never was able to see her much. Then, when Zane was six, they moved to California to live with Dian's brother, Strip.

Zane started going to school there.

One day when Zane was thirteen, a buffalo, a zebra, and an elephant gathered around Zane as he walked home. They were each about three years older than Zane.

"Where you going, _fox_?" asked the zebra, spitting out the last word like poison.

"H- Home," Zane replied, getting scared.

"Ha! The little foxy is scared!" mocked the buffalo.

"W- What's wrong with going home?" Zane asked.

"Oh, so you think you can trick us with your sly fox tricks?" mocked the zebra.

"No! I just want to get home before my mom starts wondering where I am!" Zane yelled.

"Ha!" the elephant mocked, then grabbed Zane's backpack and tore it in half, pouring the contents on Zane's head.

"My mom's going to kill me!" Zane said as he gathered up his books and papers.

"Not if we do it first!" the zebra said, then kicked Zane in the side of the face.

The rest of the animals started hurting Zane badly. After they had broken his foot and a rib, the zebra gestured for them to leave. Zane sat there on the sidewalk for thirty minutes sobbing.

Nobody came to help him.

Zane came home hours later, in so much pain, he collapsed on the couch. He awoke to the sound of Dian yelling at him.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Dian asked Zane.

"Mom. I was attacked by bullies," Zane said with all his strength, but it was quiet.

"I'll take you to the hospital, then you are going to pay for a new backpack yourself!"

"Yes ma'am."

The next year, Dian married another fox. His name was Eric Webster. But the problem was that he never had time for Zane, either. The only people who would take care of him were the many babysitters that came, but they were a bit mean sometimes.

Zane would spend many nights in his bed sobbing into his pillow, because if he made too much noise, his mother would make him shut up.

Then one day when Zane was sixteen, he noticed something about his mother that was strange.

"Mother, are you pregnant?" Zane asked.

"Yeah," Dian said with almost no love in her voice. "Now go and leave me alone!"

Zane was thrilled. A little brother or sister to take care of! He could finally have someone to share his problems with and they wouldn't hurt him!

When the due date came, Zane was left at home. He couldn't wait until he could see his little sister! But that was not yet to be. When Dian and Eric came home, there was no little fox kit in either one's arms.

"Where is she?" Zane asked.

"It- It was a miscarriage," Eric said, sorrow on his voice.

Dian had sorrow on her face too. It was the saddest Zane had ever seen his mother.

"Can you go pick these things up at the store, Eric? I haven't gotten any of these for a month," Dian said, handing Eric a list.

"Sure. I love you, Dian," Eric said as he hugged Dian, then left.

Once Dian was sure Eric was out of the apartment building, she grabbed Zane by the arm and dragged him to her bedroom and locked the door. Zane had had this done to him before. It meant his mother was going to punish him. He closed his eyes to brace himself for the beating, but it never came. He opened his eyes and saw Dian getting something out of a box in the closet. She pulled out a picture and handed it to Zane.

"This is Nick Wilde. He is your real father," Dian said.

"Wasn't he the first fox police officer in the ZPD?" Zane asked, still looking at the picture.

Nick Wilde looked like a nice guy. He had a smirk that looked like he could charm anybody, and he had a very casual way of dressing.

"Yes, he was. I have been secretly messing with him since 2004. I've already killed his wife and I have a plan in place to make his life even worse," Dian said.

Zane looked at his mother, shock on his face. _She killed someone's wife?_

"Why are you telling me this?" Zane asked.

"Well, I have arranged for my daughter to be in Savannah Central Adoption Agency, nearby where Nick lives."

"I thought you had a miscarriage."

"That was just so Eric wouldn't know what I was doing. She is very healthy and will hopefully become Nick Wilde's daughter."

"How will that work?"

"He's been dating a rabbit."

Zane was shocked. A fox dating a rabbit? That was against every natural inclination that Zane knew about! "He's dating a _rabbit_?"

"Yes! That's what I just said!"

"So what do I do?"

"I want you to purchase a barn."

"A barn?"

"I'll show you the barn, then you will buy it using money from a bank account I created a few years ago."

"Yes, ma'am."

Dian drove Zane down highway 69 south out of Zootopia, then pulled down an old dirt road. At the end of the road was an old barn, with an over grown field a little ways deeper into the forest. Dian got out and walked into the barn. Zane followed.

"Open the large doors," Dian said, pointing to the doors on the short wall.

When Zane did, it flooded the barn with light. There was several hay and straw bales along the wall and in the hay loft, there was a wheelbarrow with random tools in it, there was a workshop desk with some parts to who knows what, what looked like a closet to the side, then the centerpiece was the old rusted Farmall 806 tractor hooked up to a wagon with more hay in it.

Dian was behind the tractor, unhooking the trailer, then she climbed up onto the seat.

"Open the grill and spray some ether into the intake!" Dian said.

Zane obeyed and sprayed a few ounces of the ether into the air intake. Zane didn't know what his mother wanted to do with this tractor, but he'd find out.

Dian raised the throttle to half open, turned the key, and then pressed the start button until it started. She let the old diesel engine idle for a while to get it warmed up.

As it was running, Zane heard a truck drive down the dirt road. He went outside the barn and saw Strip driving one of the old Peterbilt 359s with a lowboy trailer to the barn. Dian walked out of the barn and walked up to the truck. Strip got out and lowered the trailer's ramps. They walked over to the tractor, and Zane followed.

"Yep. I can get this baby fixed up real good for ya, Sis," Strip said.

"But will it cost an arm and a leg?" Dian asked.

"Nah! One of these," Strip rubbed his paw on the serial number plate and rubbed the grease off of it and read it. "1966 IHC 806s are easily modified and repaired. They're common enough to be cheap to repair, but strong enough to do what you need."

"Then get it fixed up!" Dian said.

Strip climbed up onto the seat and pressed the clutch, pushed the range lever to high, then pushed the gear lever to first, then let go of the clutch and drove it onto the lowboy. He put the range lever to neutral, then set the parking brake, then lowered the throttle until the engine died. He then turned the key off and got off the tractor. As he was strapping the tractor down, he was smiling.

"Man! Turning an 806 into a two mammal 1206 backhoe! This gonna be fun!" Strip said as he got back into the truck.

As Strip drove off with the tractor, Zane and Dian watched as he drove off.

"What did he say we was going to turn that into and why?" Zane asked.

"He's going to make it into an International Harvester Farmall 1206 backhoe," Dain responded.

"How?" Zane asked.

"An 806 and 1206 are identical, except the 1206 has a turbocharger, giving more than fifty more horsepower over the 806. Then he'll add a front loader and a three-point hitch backhoe with its own seat, so it will become a two-seater. We will use it for some construction around here."

"Construction?"

"You'll see."

After Zane had purchased the barn and fifty acres surrounding it, Dian started doing some surveying behind the barn, all the way to the edge of the property. Zane guessed it was part of the construction they would be doing.

By the end of the week, Strip came back with the truck, with the tractor on the lowboy, only it didn't look anything like it did before.

Strip got off the truck and started unstrapping the tractor.

Dian walked up to him. "Is it ready?"

"You bet! I added the turbo, the front loader, the backhoe, and even added four wheel drive! I re-painted it to be the glossy red it used to be, fixed up the electrical system, and put a 1206 model plate on!" Strip said.

"Four wheel drive? I thought they didn't manufacture a critical piece for that anymore!" Dian said.

"I made several custom pieces for it."

"And how much did you pay for this?"

"$75,000."

"That's almost half of the account!"

"Relax! I put some of my money into the account, so you'll have plenty left."

"Whatever. Show Zane how to use this machine."

"Ok, Sis. Zane! Get over here!"

Strip started showing Zane how to use the 806-turned-1206 backhoe.

"…And this lever controls the front loader. Push the lever down to make the arms go up, up to go down, left to make the bucket go up, right to make it go down. Simple," Strip said, showing Zane.

"Ok, I got it now," Zane said, making the arms and bucket move around.

Throughout the next several months, the three foxes built a "foxhole" that goes from the barn to the nearest Strip Weather's Tire Shop. In the hole, there was a place where they could live for a while, as well as a laboratory and a prison-like place. Zane didn't really like where this was going.

During the construction, Dian learned about Nick Wilde's wedding to Judy Hopps. Then, she found out they were looking to adopt Dian's daughter and some other bunny from the Savannah Central Adoption Agency.

"This plan is going quite smoothly," Dian remarked once she found out.

Once construction was complete, Strip took the backhoe and front loader off the tractor and put them behind the barn. Then they parked the tractor outside the barn, and put a paint remover on the sheet metal so it would rust, much to Strip's dismay. Once the tractor was fairly well rusted, it was parked inside the barn. Then, they left the barn alone until an opportune time.

A month later, Dian, Zane and Strip were back in California. Zane was upstairs in his bedroom listening to music in his headphones, while Dian slept on the couch in the living room. She was watching tv, but fell asleep.

Zane was wishing he was somewhere else, because it seemed that Dian took all her anger out on him. He would rather rot alone then spend a minute with her.

 _How could you hate me when all I ever wanted to be was you? How could you love me when all you ever gave me were open wounds?_ Zane thought.

It doesn't matter what Zane did, but it seemed like he never was good enough for Dian. He felt like he was falling apart from the inside out.

 _You can't stop me from falling apart, because my self-destruction is all your fault!_ Zane thought.

Zane never really felt loved, and he was never hugged by his mother. It was a sad existence, but he managed to hold together enough to get by.

 _If I wasn't here tomorrow, would anybody care? If my time was up I want to know if you were happy I was there. Would anyone lose sleep if I was gone tomorrow? If I wasn't hard and hollow, then maybe you would miss me. I know I'm a mess and I want to be someone I'd like better. I can never forget, so don't remind me of it forever. What if I just pulled myself together, would it matter at all? Of all the chances that have passed me by, would it matter if I gave it one more try?_ Zane thought.

Several years later, Dian got a hold of some Night Howlers from an associate of Doug, the ram who had shot the predators with Night Howlers under orders of Bellwether a few years ago. She and the associate started modifying the Night Howlers into serum that would make the one with it in their blood like Hulk. But it needed to be tested.

"I have a plan for the testing of the serum," Dian told Zane.

Zane thought it meant _he_ would be given the serum. "Why me?"

"Not you! I'm going to get some test subjects."

Dian then hired some wolves, a jaguar, a leopard, and a weasel. She had them kidnap several mammals throughout Zootopia, using the old Peterbilt 359 that Strip kept. When the kidnappings were done, Dian and the associate tested the serum on the various mammals that they kidnapped. The serum didn't work like it was supposed to, so Dian had an idea.

A storm had blown through in the last couple of days, and the Wilde's house had some damage. They were staying at an RV park outside Zootopia for the time being. It was the perfect time to try a new strategy.

Dian sent one of the wolves out to scout the trailer the Wildes were staying in. And if he could, to watch her daughter, who Dian found they named Nicole.

After a few days of the wolf reporting all of the activities the family did, he also reported that Nicole would often go for walks around the campsite. Dian told the wolf and others in the team to wait until Nicole went for a walk with nobody watching.

And soon enough, she did. She went for a walk around one in the morning; the perfect time to kidnap her.

Around eight in the morning, Nicole woke up inside one of the prison rooms.

"She's awake, Zane. Give her this," Dian said, handing Zane a bag of fried chicken and a water bottle.

 _Hold yourself together, Zane. Don't let her see your pain,_ Zane thought to himself

Zane walks in and looks at Nicole. She was young, about sixteen, and she was actually quite beautiful. She had tear streaks down her face, and she looked very frightened. Zane almost felt sorry for her just for her being the daughter of Dian.

"Here's supper, Nicole," Zane said, setting the food down on the crate in the room. "Eat up. You must stay healthy."

Nicole grabbed the fried chicken and ate it, while Zane stood in the corner and watched.

When Nicole was done, Zane grabbed the plate and left. "I'll be seeing you then," Zane said as he left.

"Never let her know the plan, and never reveal anything about me," Dian said when Zane got back.

"Yes, ma'am," Zane replied.

Several hours later, Dian handed Zane a tame collar. "Put this on her."

"Yes, ma'am," Zane said, taking the collar. _This is so cruel!_ Zane thought, but he would never do anything against Dian.

Zane walked into the prison room and saw Nicole sleeping in a corner. It was sad to see her with no help coming, but Zane didn't have any help coming, either.

Zane put the collar on, but when he was just attaching the clasp, she woke up and growled. She shoved Zane away, and he stepped back. Suddenly, there is a small beep, then a shock goes through Nicole's body, making her fall over. She puts her paws where the shock came from. Feeling the tame collar, she looks at Zane.

"Wha-?" was all she said. It was unfortunate that Zane would finally hear his sister speak with a fearful and confused tone in her voice.

Zane chuckled. It was all he could do to keep from crying. "It's a tame collar. When you become angry, or if this button on my remote is pressed, it shocks you."

Nicole growls again, obviously not getting why it shocks her, and she gets shocked again.

Zane chuckles again, forcing himself not to cry, then helps Nicole up.

"I'm Zane," Zane said after he helped Nicole up.

Nicole sat back down and curled up in the corner she was in and closed her eyes.

Zane took the hint and left the room. After he shut the door, he stopped and listened to see what Nicole would do. When he heard her start to sob, that was it. Zane let the tears flow silently from his eyes as he walked to his bedroom in the "foxhole."

"Time to feed Nicole," Dian said the next day.

 _Are you treating her like she's just an uncivilized animal?_ Zane thought.

Zane walked into the room and saw Nicole prying the crate open with her teeth. Zane held back the tears as he pressed the button on the remote to shock her.

"What are you doing?" Zane asked.

Zane picked up the crate and the nails she had gotten out and walked out of the room.

"If you were wondering, the crate was empty. Here's your supper," Zane said when he came back, setting the food down for her. He left right after he set it down.

"Let me know when she's asleep," Dian told Zane when he got out.

"Yes, ma'am."

A few hours later, Zane went to check on Nicole. She was fast asleep, leaning up against the wall. Zane went and told his mother that she was asleep. Dian followed him back to the room she was in, then opened the door. Nicole didn't move at all.

"Is she dead?" Zane asked, not knowing why she wasn't moving when the door opened.

"No! She's been drugged. I need to get her out of these stupid pajamas she's wearing. Now pick her up and follow me."

Zane picked Nicole up and followed Dian.

As he was carrying Nicole, he placed a light kiss on her forehead and whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry for everything I've done."

Dian had Zane set Nicole on Dian's bed in her bedroom, then leave.

Fifteen minutes later, Dian had Zane carry Nicole back to her prison cell.

Dian had changed Nicole's clothes into a white t-shirt and some Nike shorts.

Zane set Nicole down back where she was, then left.

An hour or so later, Nicole woke up.

Zane walked in and she glared at him.

"How could you?" Nicole asked.

Zane lifted his paws like he was surrendering. "I didn't do it! My mother did it for you," Zane said.

"Your mother, who I have never seen, changed my clothes, while I was asleep?" Nicole said, slowly.

"Yes," Zane said.

Nicole reached up and slapped Zane across the face. Hard. But she payed the price with a large shock from the collar.

Zane sat down beside Nicole and looked her in the face. "If I were you, I would stop being so rebellious. You won't die. You won't starve, you won't be sold into the sex trade. We want you as bait," Zane said.

"Bait for what?" Nicole asked.

"You'll see."

Zane walked out of the room without another word.

Zane went to his bedroom and laid down. He felt sick to his stomach. He couldn't bear to see his sister he waited sixteen years to meet in so much pain. Zane fell asleep.

Dian was in his room, waking him up later.

"It's time to tell Nicole about the plan," Dian said.

Zane got up and walked towards the room Nicole was in, when Nicole herself ran around the corner. She froze and stared at the two foxes. She turned around, when the leopard grabbed her by the shoulders.

Dian elbowed Zane and handed him a whip and mouthed the words, "Use this on her!"

Zane took it and walked up to Nicole. The leopard turned Nicole around so she would be looking at Zane. "Nicole, Nicole, Nicole. You need a punishment for that."

Nicole spit in Zane's face. "Go die!"

Zane wiped the spit off his face, and also wiped the tears out of his eyes from hearing Nicole say that. He uncoiled the whip and let her see it. "You'll be fine, young vixen."

The leopard carried Nicole back to where she was before, then tied her up where she couldn't move. Zane could hear Nicole whimpering as she tried to break free. Zane cracked the whip against the wall, then raised his arm over his head, ready to strike, but he hesitated. Dian kicked him in the shin.

"How about ten lashes for trying to escape?" Zane suggested.

So he struck Nicole on her back with the whip. Nicole's scream was making Zane's eyes water up.

Zane struck the whip in the same spot on her back, making the wound bigger and worse. She looked like she would pass out before he was done. Zane couldn't do it any longer, but he didn't want the whip on his own back, so he did all ten lashes. He left the room as soon as he was done.

Hours later, Dian handed Zane a bag of food for Nicole again. Zane took it and went to the room. Nicole was still sobbing in the corner, and there was blood all over the floor and part of the wall.

Zane sighed and set the food down. "I'm sorry I had to do that to you. You seem like such a nice vixen. But I did what I had to do. But you're not going to get the same treatment anymore."

The fried chicken was cold, and the water bottle was only half full.

Nicole turned around and covered her face. Zane left and went to his own room.

Dian opened his door later and handed him a change of clothes for Nicole. "Give these to her, then leave. I may be cruel, but I'm not going to have my daughter change clothes with her brother in the room."

Zane took them and tossed them onto the floor, not wanting to look at Nicole. "Here. In case you might want these."

Zane waited an hour, then went back into the room with a towel. He hands the towel to Nicole. "You might want to clean yourself up a bit with this."

Nicole started rubbing the towel on herself, then asks Zane the question he knew she would ask sooner or later.

"Why do you have me here?"

Zane chuckled. "Like I told you. You are the bait. This is part of a master plan my leader set in motion almost twenty years ago. You'll find out eventually."

With that, Zane walked out.

A little while later, Dian told Zane to go into the room again. Zane entered and stood at the doorway.

"My parents have the entire ZPD looking for me right now!" Nicole yelled at him.

Zane chuckles. "That's the point, Sister. We want your father here," Zane said, smirking.

Then Zane could see a light go off in her head. "I'm bait for my dad?" Nicole asked.

"I think you've got it figured out," Zane said, then walked out.

Zane sat on a chair outside of the room, because he couldn't bear to leave her anymore. She was in too much pain. Soon enough, he couldn't take it anymore. He had to see her again. He went back into the room and leaned into the opposite corner that Nicole was in. He stood there for thirty minutes, just watching Nicole sleeping.

When she woke up, she growled when she saw Zane. She got a small shock from the collar, then looked back at Zane, rubbing her neck.

"What do you want my dad for?" Nicole asked.

Zane laughed a bit and walked closer to Nicole.

"For revenge, Nicole. He didn't treat my leader very well, so my leader wants revenge. You are the result of the mistreatment, so we're going to use you as bait," Zane said.

"What are you talking about?" Nicole asked.

Zane chuckled. "In time, you'll understand," Zane said, and walked out.

Dian was outside the room, waiting for Zane.

"You've been telling her too much!" Dian said.

"I have not, Mother! I'm trying to get her too confused to understand," Zane said.

Dian sighed. "We will have to move her soon. Wilde is getting too close to finding our hideout too early!" Dian said.

"I'll get her moved as soon as possible," Zane said.

"I hope so, or we'll need to abandon the mission and start again sometime, with a different tactic!" Dian said.

"Where would you like me to move her?" Zane asked.

"Take her out to Outback Island in the van, then leave an anonymous tip on her location to the ZPD using a pay phone," Dian said.

"Yes, ma'am."

The next day, Zane got the van ready, then went into Nicole's prison.

"Wake up!" Zane yelled at Nicole.

"What?" Nicole asked, looking around.

"We're going to give you back, now come on!" Zane said, putting pawcuffs on Nicole.

He picked her up and practically dragged her out of the room. He took her down a hallway, then he put a needle in her neck.

"Sorry I ever did any of this to you, Nicole," Zane said as she passed out, but she passed out before he finished.

He set her gently into the back of the van, then drove it to the alley Dian had told him to park it at.

He walked down the sidewalk towards the nearest pay phone. Zane went into the booth and called the ZPD.

"Hello. This is Officer Clawhauser of the ZPD. How can I be of assistance?" the officer who answered the phone said.

"G'day mate," Zane said, faking an Australian accent. "I'm calling to give an anonymous tip for the kidnapping of Nicole Wilde, mate."

"Ok! I'm listening!"

"I think she may be in the back of a white van on the corner of Sydney Street and Kookaburra Way in an alley. I hope that can be of some assistance, mate."

"Yes, sir! It will be of great assistance! Thank you so much, sir!"

"Good bye then, mate. Glad I could help," Zane said, then hung up.

Zane walked over to the Outback Island station to get on the subway to get back home.

"I have done what you told me to do, Mother," Zane said when he got back.

"Time to go back to California, Zane," Dian said.

Back at California, life went back into what other mammals would call a normal life. Zane would help Dian and Strip run Strip's tire manufacturing company he took control of a few years ago. This was the first time Zane had seen Eric in several months.

Zane had a sinking feeling that the cops would find them from Nicole's description she would give, but months passed without them ever getting caught, or even coming under suspicion.

At least, not that Zane knew of.

Eventually, Dian took Strip and Zane back to Zootopia. This time, they started modifying the Night Howlers again. Also, they kidnapped different mammals. But little to Dian and Zane's knowledge, one of the bunnies they kidnapped escaped. That would be the one mistake they made.

But they decided to bring Nick to them, and what better way to do that, then kidnap all of his children?

Dian had his bunny and young fox kidnapped, but they couldn't find Nicole. They brought them to the warehouse, and kept them in a cage with a blanket over it.

Later that day, Zane was in the warehouse with Dian one day, when there on the security cameras, a police cruiser drove up. When the driver got out, Dian saw it was Nick!

"You bring him in, and get him to stand right here," Dian told Zane, then hid behind some stuff in the building.

Zane walked to the door, and waited.

Nick knocked. "This is Officer Nick Wilde! ZPD! Open up!"

Zane opened the door, and looked at his father for the first time in his life. "Can I help you, Officer?" Zane asked, keeping his cool.

"I am looking for two mammals. A thirteen year old bunny, and an eight year old fox," Nick said.

"I think I might be able to help you. My name's Zane Weather," Zane said, shaking Nick's paw.

"I'm Nick Wilde," Nick said.

Zane just led Nick over to where Dian had told him to take him, then he saw Dian run behind Nick, brushing her tail against his back.

Nick spun around, very much on guard. Zane walked back a little, in a spot where he could see both Dian and Nick. He saw Dian reach out and grab Nick's left paw, but it looked like Nick slipped his skin off.

Zane's jaw dropped when he saw the prosthetic on Nick's left arm.

Zane saw Dian look at the cover, then roll her eyes, then threw it back at Nick.

Dian walked out from where she was hiding, then stood quietly behind Nick.

"Who's there?" asked Nick.

"Hello, Nicky. Haven't seen you in a long time," Dian said.

Nick slowly turned around, and the look of surprise on his face when he saw Dian was almost humorous.

"What are you doing here?" Nick asked.

Dian laughed a bit. "Don't you remember Zane?" Dian asked.

"That doesn't answer my question," Nick said.

"I came to give you some news," Dian said.

"I don't care! Where are my kids?" Nick asked.

"There's three of them here," Dian said. Zane stuck a syringe with a tranquilizer in Nick's neck, making him pass out immediately.

Zane just stared at his father's limp body on the floor of the warehouse.

Zane felt like when Luke Skywalker had discovered Darth Vader was his father, except Vader is the good guy, and Luke is the bad guy.

"Help me get him on this, Zane," Dian said. Zane saw a stretcher lying beside Nick that Zane didn't notice was there before.

Zane set Nick on the stretcher, then he and Dian carried him downstairs, to the "foxhole." They set him down in the same room Nicole was in just one year earlier, then left.

As Zane was walking out, one of the wolves entered, with a bag over his shoulder. Zane followed to see what it was. When the wolf got to the prison room door, he set the bag down, then took the contents out; a grey bunny, with a bandage on her left thigh. Zane left right after.

Zane didn't see the wolf also put Ken and Josh, Nick's two other kids in there with them.

The next day, Dian was sitting on a chair outside the prison room, when Zane noticed Nicole drive up to the warehouse. He went over to the room and looked at Dian. "She's here!" Zane said.

"What? It's too early! Tell her to go away, but not suspiciously," Dian said.

"But she probably remembers me!" Zane said.

"Tell Strip to do it!" Dian said.

"Ok," Zane said, and walked off.

After Nicole had left, Dian told Zane to follow her. They went into the prison room. Nick was sitting on the floor, with the three other mammals piled on top of him.

Zane wished he could have been able to do that with his family when he was the age of Ken or Josh.

Nick was growling and showing his fangs. "What do you want?" Nick asked.

"I want to give you some information, Nicky," Dian said. "I want you to meet our son, Zane," Dian said, gesturing to Zane.

Nick froze and quit growling.

"Nice to meet you, Dad," Zane said, shaking Nick's paw.

"How is this possible?" Nick asked.

"Remember that last party we went to? Yeah. That's what happened. I hope you will understand. Goodbye!" Dian said, then walked out with Zane following.

When they were well out of earshot, Zane gathered up courage, and turned Dian around to face him. "You never told me I was born out of wedlock! I thought you were married to him! And why do you want to make his life miserable? This is all highly illegal, and he and his wife are cops!" Zane said.

Dian grabbed Zane's shirt by the collar, and pulled him close to her face. "Listen here, s _on_ ," Dian said, putting emphasis on the last word. "I make the rules, and I can do what I want! I am your mother, and I will make you do as I say! He ruined my life with you, so I am going to ruin his life with you! It's all poetic justice." Dian let go of Zane and walked off without another word.

Zane watched his mother walk down the hall, then turn to leave. Zane continued to stand there, just looking blankly at the wall.

Once Zane regained his composure, he felt like he should do something. He walked over to the prison room, then entered. He forgot to have a plan, so he just said the first thing that came to his head. "So I guess you are my father, she is my step-mother, and you two are not related to me at all."

"What do you want, and why do you keep coming in here?" Nick asked.

Zane laughed. "For a cop, you don't get it, do you?" Zane said.

"Well, there aren't many clues to go by, you know," Nick said, waving his hand around the room.

Zane laughed again. "All the clues are in your head, Dad," Zane said, and walked out.

As Zane was walking off, he heard Nick kick the bucket that was in the room, as well as shout, "I hate that he was born!"

 _Great,_ Zane thought. _Now both of my parents hate me._

Dian walked up to Zane and handed him a pre-paid phone. "Call Nicole, and tell her everything I say," Dian said.

"Yes, ma'am," Zane said as he started dialing.

"Hello?" Nicole said once she answered.

"Hello, Nicole!"

Nicole growled. "What do you want, Zane?"

Zane chuckled. "I want you to come chat with me."

"Why?"

Zane chuckled again. "I want to make you an offer, Nicole."

"Fine. Where?"

"How about you drive south on highway 69 until I wave you down."

"Fine. I'll go right now," Nicole said, then hung up.

Zane handed the phone back to Dian, who dropped the phone, then crushed it with her foot.

Zane drove his car out to the end of the dirt road that leads to the barn. He waited, then saw Nicole drive up.

"Glad you could come, Nicole!" Zane said.

"Don't give me those fake pleasantries! Tell me what you want to tell me!" Nicole yelled.

Zane chuckled.

"Do like to see me angry?" Nicole asked.

"Yeah. I kind of do. It's oddly entertaining," Zane said.

"I want you to tell me what you are going to," Nicole said.

"We have your adopted family. Our mother wants you to come work for us, and your family can go free," Zane said.

"I will never call her my mother!" Nicole yelled.

"So, you found the truth?" Zane asked.

"Yes!" Nicole said.

"Will you work for your dear mother?" Zane asked.

"What kind of 'work' do you mean?" Nicole asked, sounding semi-interested.

"We want you to be our 'tracker,'" Zane said.

"What?" Nicole asked.

"Accept the job, and you'll get more information. Reject the job, and your family dies!" Zane said.

Nicole gasped. "Why would you do that?" she asked.

"It's too complicated for a young vixen like you to understand. You're a Weather! You belong with us!" Zane said, reaching his paw out for Nicole. She closed her eyes, clenched her jaw, and made a fist, then relaxed.

"Deal," Nicole said, putting her paw in Zane's.

Zane smiled, and had so many emotions running through his head. Joy, fear, excitement, anxiety.

"Get in my car," Zane said, getting in his car. Nicole got in the passenger side, and Zane drove down the old road.

"Here we are," Zane said, stopping at the barn.

"Here?" Nicole asked.

"Uh, yeah. I know where I'm going," Zane said in an annoyed tone. "Little sisters, am I right?"

"I will never be your sister!" Nicole yelled.

"Too late. You already are," Zane said. Zane felt like she would never love him for who he was, and not what he had done.

Nicole sighed and got out of the car. Zane walked her into the barn and turned on the lights.

Zane opened the closet door that lead to the "foxhole."

"Ladies first," Zane said, gesturing for Nicole to enter. Nicole glared at Zane as she passed him.

When they got to the bottom, Nicole was looking around at all the testing equipment.

"What is this?" Nicole asked.

"You'll see," Zane said. "If you could just please turn around and close your eyes for a minute, I will get you ready for your job."

Nicole huffed, then turned around and closed her eyes. Zane sighed and put the muzzle Dian had given him onto Nicole.

"Ok, open them," Zane said.

Nicole started grabbing at her muzzle, trying to get it off. She had an angry look in her eyes as she looked at Zane. Zane just laughed.

"We don't want you to exclaim when we walk you around," Zane said, grabbing Nicole's paw and pulling her down a hallway.

Zane took her to the prison room beside the one her family was in. "I'll be back to help you get started," Zane said, and shut the door.

Zane walked to where Dian was, in the lab.

"Are you sure this is the best thing to do?" Zane asked.

"Don't question me, boy!" Dian yelled.

Zane frowned, then looked down at the floor. He started feeling regret for just being born.

"Go get Nicole," Dian said, stepping into the storage room.

Zane walked down the hall to her room, then opened the door. "Come on. Time to start your job," Zane said as he helped Nicole up, then walked her down the hall to the lab. "Sit," Zane said, pointing to the bed. Nicole laid down and stared at the ceiling. Dian walked in with a small case in her paws.

"Ah! My long lost daughter!" Dian said. "I bet you're wondering what we're doing. Well, I'll tell you. I did some dealings with a couple of mammals through the years, and some of them stabbed me in the back." Dian let that sink in for a while. "I want you to take care of them."

Dian started pacing back and forth beside Nicole.

"We have a friend from town who worked with Doug. He was nice enough to give us what was left of their Night Howler supply. He helped us modify it to suit our needs."

Zane could see Nicole was getting scared.

"Zane, take it away," Dian said, stepping back.

Zane started strapping Nicole down on the bed. When he was done, he stepped back. "All tight!"

Dian opened the case she had, and pulled a syringe with the Night Howler serum in it and walked up to Nicole.

"This is not permanent. It only acts when you get angry. Like Hulk, you will become a savage beast when you're angry, but when you calm down, you become normal. We've tested this on many mammals," Dian said.

Dian then readied the syringe on Nicole's exposed right shoulder, ready to inject the poison. Zane could sense the fear in Nicole right now. Dian pushed it in, then emptied the syringe.

There was nothing Zane could do.

Nicole's eyes turned wild, and her veins started bulging. Her muscles became stronger, and she tried to snarl, but couldn't because of the muzzle. It hurt Zane to see this.

Zane pushed the hospital bed into a large cage on the wall, then closed it. Dian pressed a button, and the straps and muzzle came off of Nicole.

"Go get the Wildes," Dian said.

Zane nodded, then walked over to the prison door. Just as he was about to open it, he heard Nick shout, "I won't let this happen!" then Nick banged on the door.

Zane opened it. "Nice to see you, Dad. I want to show you something. They can come, too," Zane said.

Nick picked Judy up, then followed Zane out, with Ken and Josh following Nick. Zane took them to the lab.

"Nicky! It's been a rough time here, hasn't it?" Dian said.

"Shut up!" Nick yelled.

"Why don't you look at the curtain behind you?"

Nick, Judy, Ken, and Josh turned around and looked at the grey curtain over the wall.

"What's so great about this?" Nick asked.

"It's what's under the curtain, Nicky. Zane, open it."

Zane pushed a button that dropped the curtain to the floor.

" **NICOLE!** " Judy yelled.

"What have you done to her?!" Nick ask-yelled.

"Don't worry, Nicky. She'll only be like this when she's mad. When she calms down, she'll be normal."

"But why?"

"It's a long story, but it's time for you to go home."

"What?"

"Nicole agreed to do this to set you free. Now off you go. Zane will take you home."

Zane put a syringe with a tranquilizer into Nick's neck. He fell down, and Judy looked at Zane with fear in her eyes. Zane closed his eyes and put a tranquilizer shot into Judy, then Ken, then Josh.

Zane had the jaguar carry them all into a van outside. Zane drove to the Wilde household and brought each one in one at a time, making sure not to leave a trace of him ever entering. When he left, he wrote a note of apology, but he stuffed it under the refrigerator.

He went back to the foxhole and went to sleep on his bed, wishing with all his might that this was all a dream.

The next day, Zane was sitting in the hallway, staring at the wall. His arms were crossed, and he had an angry look on his face. He was mad at his mother, mad at his father, mad at the world.

"What's going on? Where am I?" Zane heard Nicole as from her cage in the lab.

Zane got up and walked over there. "Ah. I see you've calmed down," he said.

"You've got me to become your monster. Release me to the wild whenever you want," Nicole said, annoyance on her voice.

Zane laughed. "That's not how this works, Nicole. We're going to give you this," Zane said, holding up a tame collar.

"Why?" Nicole asked.

"To make you mad when we want you to."

Nicole huffed, then took it from Zane's paw and put it on.

"Who's my first target?" Nicole asked, still with the annoyed tone.

"That's the spirit. We need you to get a coyote named James Cardle. He lives in Temperate Terrace, several blocks away from your home. We want you to take him out," Zane said.

Nicole sighed.

"If it makes you happy, your family is safe and sound back at your home," Zane said.

Zane could see Nicole was relieved when he told her that.

"What did James do to your mother?" Nicole asked.

"She's _our_ mother, and he lent her some money, claiming it was interest free, but he demanded a huge interest after the fact."

"So?"

"So, he needs to give the interest back."

"So I'm not killing him?"

"Do you not get it? His interest is _his life_!"

Nicole gasped a little when he said that. "Why?"

"You are really getting on my nerves now. No problem, it's time to begin."

"What?"

"Just shut up, ok?"

Nicole shrank down into a corner and glared at Zane as he left the room.

Zane went and got some things for the mission, then went out to the van. Nicole was already loaded into the van, so Zane got in the driver's seat. The leopard was in the back with Nicole.

Zane drove out to a forest behind Temperate Terrace.

Zane parked the van behind James' house. The leopard opened the back doors and dragged Nicole out. He put a muzzle on her, then tossed her over the fence.

Zane cringed a bit.

"Are you still there?" Zane asked.

He could hear Nicole's breathing, so yes, she was still there.

"Just sniff this," Zane said, then tossed one of James' shirts over the fence.

Zane heard Nicole sniffing the shirt. When he figured she smelled it enough, he pulled out the remote. "Go get him, girl!" Zane said, then pressed the button.

Zane got a small drill and drilled a hole through the fence. He saw Nicole stalking towards the house on all fours.

After a few minutes of waiting, a scream was heard, and the sound of a fox growling.

"Let's go!" Zane said, then jumped over the fence, the leopard following him. They snuck into the house, careful not to alert Nicole of their presence.

Zane peeked into the room Nicole was in and almost threw up. There was blood and guts all over the room. The leopard got his tranquilizer ready and fired at Nicole. She passed out. Zane walked into the room. He looked at what was James Cardle.

His chest had been ripped open, and the insides were scattered around the floor. His head was barely attached, and his right arm was on the floor in front of Nicole; she was chewing on it.

Zane went into the bathroom and threw up in the toilet.

When he went back outside, the leopard had already put the unconscious Nicole into the van.

Zane got in the driver's seat and drove back to the foxhole.

The next day, Zane was sitting down in the dining room of the foxhole, writing a note of apology on the back of a picture of the Wilde family. He put it in a photo album and hid it in a cabinet. Then he walked out to see how Nicole was doing, and to get her a shower like his mother had told him to do.

When Zane entered, Nicole was sobbing into her paws. She was a bloody mess.

"How's my favorite sister?" Zane asked with a smile on his face.

Nicole looked away.

"Mom told me to get you cleaned up. Follow me," Zane said, opening the cage door.

Nicole followed Zane to the bathroom. Zane let her enter and he stayed outside.

"I'll come back in exactly twenty minutes. You better get all that blood off of you, or I'll wash you myself," Zane said, then shut and locked the door.

Zane walked off and sat down on a chair in the dining room. The leopard walked in and got a sandwich from the refrigerator while Zane was in there.

"Not used to seeing that much blood, huh?" the leopard said, snacking on his sandwich.

Zane chuckled. "I guess not." Obviously the leopard didn't understand the internal conflict within Zane.

Twenty minutes later, Zane opened the bathroom door. Nicole was just pulling her shirt on. Zane had to smile. She looked beautiful when she was clean.

"You look nice, Nicole," Zane said.

"Shut up!" Nicole yelled.

"Mom wants to talk to you," Zane said, pulling Nicole out of the bathroom.

Zane took Nicole to Dian's "office" that she had set up.

"Good job last night, Nicole. I think you made the right choice to work for us," Dian said.

Nicole sighed.

"I know you don't _want_ to do this, but neither do I. If I had never met Nick, than this never would have happened. So when you see Nick again, thank him for ruining my life. Oh wait! You never will see him again!" Dian said.

Zane stayed silent through Dian's monologue.

The next day, Zane walked into the room that had Nicole's cage. Nicole looked away.

"We have your next target," Zane said

"Who is it this time?" Nicole asked, still not looking at Zane.

"Jim Worth."

Nicole's ears suddenly perked up, and she spun around to look at Zane. "What?"

"Oh, so you know him?"

"He's my uncle!"

"Well, well, well. It's a small world, isn't it?"

"What did he ever do to you?"

"It's a secret," Zane said with a disturbing smile on his face.

"I can't kill my only uncle on my dad's side!"

"Well then, I guess we'll do it ourselves!"

"No! Aunt Viki is pregnant right now! My cousin needs a father!"

Zane chuckled, but that comment Nicole made broke him finally. "What about me? I never had someone who was a father to me!" Zane yelled.

Nicole looked like she was shocked. "I'm sorry you didn't. But my- I mean- our father will come back for me," Nicole said, reaching out of the cage and putting a paw on Zane's shoulder.

"You will always think of Nick as your real father?" Zane asked.

"Yes. He raised me, so I don't see how he could be anything else."

"What about Judy? What do you think of her as?"

"I think of her as Mom. I've always called her that, and she was that to me. I can't think of her different either, even if she's a different species."

"What about Ken and Josh?"

"I grew up with them like they were my brothers, so that's what they are."

"When did you find out you were adopted?"

"I was about eight. I was at school with my best friends, Brandon and Tia. Dad had usually came to pick me up from school, so I guess my friends always thought my mom was a fox, too. When Mom picked me up from school one day, Brandon just stared at her, then looked at me. He told me I was adopted, and that they weren't my real parents. I got sad, but I asked my parents about it, and they explained it in a clear way. Clear for my eight year old mind, that is. Why are you asking me these questions?"

Zane looked like he was going to cry.

"I never had that. I never saw my father until I was sixteen, and even then, it was only a picture. My mother never really did much for me. She always had these babysitters come to take care of me while she went of doing who knows what. When she married Eric, I still never saw much of him. When my mother became pregnant with you, I was so excited. I thought I would get a little brother or sister to play with. When you were born, and you were given to the adoption agency, I was so sad. Even though I was sixteen when you were born, I almost never had any friends. I would take anything I could get," Zane said, then started sobbing into his paws. "I was always the kid who was pushed around at school," Zane said.

"Why don't you leave her and make everything good between you and Dad?"

"Why? I kidnapped the entire Wilde family, and gave his only daughter a poison. Why would he want to become my father now?" Zane asked.

"Because you're sorry."

Zane was surprised at that comment, then just walked out without another word.

Later, Zane and the jaguar took Nicole's cage to the van. They drove out to the airport. When they arrived, there was a Cessna Citation X waiting to take them to Okladensa, the home of the Worth family.

Zane opened the van doors and Nicole's cage. "Get out."

Nicole got out and Zane put pawcuffs on her wrists. He walked her into the plane and sat her down on a seat, then he sat behind her.

About an hour into the flight, Zane moved up to sit beside Nicole. He wanted to be near someone who was much nicer than Dian.

Nicole woke up and saw Zane. She started pushing him away, but Zane gave her a pleading look. Nicole then stopped pushing and let Zane sit.

"Thank you, Nicole," Zane whispered to Nicole.

"Uh, you're welcome, I guess?" Nicole whispered back.

"Do you promise you won't try anything if I take your cuffs off?" Zane whispered.

"Yes." Nicole said.

Zane took the cuffs off, and Nicole rubbed her wrists.

"That feels so much better," she said.

They sat there in silence for a while. Suddenly, Zane heard Nicole whimpering and shuddering. He looked over at her, and it looked like she was having a seizure. Zane put his paw on Nicole's forehead to feel her temperature.

Nicole then bit his arm. Zane screamed out and tried to get away, but Nicole wouldn't let go. She finally let go, and Zane fell down onto the floor. He was clutching his arm where Nicole had bitten it. He tore some of his shirt off and wrapped it around his arm to stop the bleeding.

He then passed out.

Dian opened the door that separated the cockpit from the passenger compartment and was mad. She grabbed a dart gun and shot Nicole.

While Nicole was calming down, Dian instructed the pilot to radio for an emergency landing at the nearest airport, Tulsa International.

When they had landed, an ambulance was waiting. They took Zane off to the hospital, while Dian had Nicole put in her cage in the cargo hold. They took off and continued towards their destination.

Meanwhile, Zane was being rushed to the hospital.

When he awoke, he was strapped down on a hospital bed. He realized that the hospital staff had apparently found out his identity and called the ZPD. "Help!" Zane shouted as he tried to get up.

A nurse entered and walked up to Zane.

"What's going on?" Zane asked.

"You're in the Tulsa Community Hospital. You were on a plane that called in for an emergency landing at Tulsa International Airport. You had been attacked by another fox," the nurse said.

"I have to get out of here!" Zane said, trying to get up again.

"No, you're not. It seems there is a warrant out for your arrest, so you are sitting tight," the nurse said, and left.

Zane leaned back on the bed and thoughts began swirling around his head.

 _Nicole. How could she betray me like that? She let me sit beside her so she could attack me. I should have never took the pawcuffs off. This is not going to be a very nice scene when Nick comes to take me in. He is my father. Should I consider him as a father? He probably thinks I am just a crazy guy like my mother._

 _I wish I could change my life._

 **Author's Notes:**

 **I think that pretty much sums up Zane's life during those parts. The Life of Nicole Wilde continues this story pretty well starting in chapter 11.**

 **When I wrote The Life of Nicole Wilde, I didn't think of Zane being her brother at first. But as anyone who's written a story knows, ideas change as you write.**

 **Zane's full name and meaning is:**

 **Zane: God is gracious (Hebrew name)  
Nashashuk: Loud thunder (Native American Fox tribe name)  
Weather: Weathered ram (English name)**

 **When I first heard Open Wounds by Skillet, almost instantly inspiration hit for a story about Zane. Originally he would be mad at Dian** _ **and**_ **Nick, but that didn't seem to work out well.**

 **Would it Matter by Skillet kind of just reinforces the fact that Zane feels like he's missed chances in his life.**

 **Zane was trying to make himself look tough and heartless to Nicole, Nick, and everyone else he met. He may have seemed that way when The Life of Nicole Wilde was first published, and his seemingly sudden transformation may have surprised readers. So this story shows it was not a sudden, but gradual transformation that started years ago.**

 **The International Harvester Corporation McCormick Farmall (long full name! At least there isn't Deering too!) 806/1206 is a reference to some of my grandpa's farm equipment. He owns an IHC 806 that I used to use often to grind hay bales for cows. (I switched to using the IHC Hydro 100 which is easier to drive. When he bought the H 100, it had a front loader on it, but it was taken off.) My grandpa used to own an IHC 1206 with 4WD and a cab. It was used with a backhoe like in the story, but no front loader. The 4WD front axle was removed and a non-driving front axle was put on it because a piece that had broken was not manufactured anymore. (Referenced in the story.)**

 **The part when Dian locked herself and Zane in her bedroom may seem suggestive, but it is not supposed to be. She would lock them in there, and she would physically beat him, giving him bruises and cuts often, hence the name, open wounds.**

 **The Tulsa Community Hospital does not exist, but the Tulsa International Airport does.**

 **Thank you for reading this companion story. More are to come.**

 **Ciao!**


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